and of the vigour and perspicuity of his style. natural world. But is, then, perfect wisdom compatible with the want of moral excellence? Without this last, there may be art, subtlety, dexterity; all which exist, and we might say in perfection, in the evil spirit. These, however, are not what we mean by the term wisdom; and we confess that to maintain the possibility of discovering the wisdom of God, by the light of reason, and the impossibility of discovering, by the same light, his justice, his goodness, and his truth, sounds in our ears a little like a contradiction. We thought it not unreasonable to offer these few remarks. At the same time we are most ready to acknowledge, that the subject is surrounded with difficulty, and has occasioned much diversity of opinion amongst wise and pious men. In the third section, containing remarks on " the difficulties attendant upon deistical infidelity in regard to historical matter of fact," Mr. Faber takes his stand on the fact of the deluge, and shews that "the Deist must either deny this fact altogether, or admit the actual occurrence of a revelation from God." The fact of a deluge, Mr. Faber contends, cannot be denied, without subverting all historical evidence. The proof of this event, Mr. Faber rests, not only on the tradition of all known countries, but very much also on the result of modern geological researches. For this purpose, he quotes a long and curious passage from Cuvier, containing the grounds of that philosopher's opinion that some such catastrophe must have happened to our globe, not longer ago than about five or six thousand years. Supposing then the fact of a deluge, with that of the preservation of only a few individuals, to be once established, how does this prove the existence of a Divine revelation? We shall here present our readers with the following extract, which affords an advantageous specimen of the soundness of our author's reasoning, "The established fact is, that an universal deluge took place not more than five or six millenaries ago; from which a few individuals only of men and animals, the progenitors of the present race of men and animals, effected their escape. "If then these few individuals only, human and bestial, effected their escape; the question is, how they happened to effect it, while the great mass of their respective fellows perished. "To such a question it is unanimously replied by the voice of all nations, that the pious head of a single pious family constructed an immense ship, and that in this vessel were preserved those individuals of men and animals by whose descendants the present world has been replenished. "Now here another question arises. If a ship were constructed and used for this special purpose, the person who so constructed and used it must have foreseen the approaching deluge. But man, natuthen did the builder of the ship derive that rally,possesses not foreknowledge. Whence prescience, by which he foresaw and provided against the approaching deluge? "It is not easy to conceive, what reply can be given to this question, save what is doubtless the true one. The builder of the ship must have derived his prescience from an immediate intercourse with God. But, if this be admitted (and surely we have here a knot, which nothing, tie); the fact of a direct intercourse besave the intervention of a Deity, can untween man and his Creator, or, in other words, the fact of a revelation of God's purposes to his creature man, is fully and incontrovertibly established. "Against such a conclusion I see not what can be urged, save either the one or the other of the two following solutions of the difficulty. though universal in one sense of the word, "It may be said, that the deluge, yet did not cover the tops of all the highest hills; and that, upon their summits, certain individuals, human and bestial, preserved themselves from destruction. "Or it may be admitted, that the deluge was strictly universal; while it may be contended, that the individuals in question fortunately saved themselves on board revelation from Heaven, had been previof a ship, which, without any necessary ously built just as many other ships might have been previously built. "Neither of these solutions, I fear, will untie the knot: they shall, however, be considered in their order. "1. Let us first suppose, that the deluge did not cover the tops of the highest mountains, and that certain individuals of each genus preserved themselves upon their summits. What will be the result of this supposition? It will, I presume, be the following. "Though many men and many animals would perish, many men and many animals in every quarter of the globe would escape; for, as the summits of the mountains would be open to all, we may be quite sure, that great numbers would eagerly seize such an opportunity of selfpreservation. Had this then been the mode of escape afforded to men and animals, it is perfectly clear, that no tradition of any escape effected through the medium of a ship could have been in existence. The accounts of the several nations of the earth would indeed have so far agreed, that their respective ancestors had saved themselves upon the tops of their own territorial mountains: but their accounts could never have agreed in the single striking circumstance, that the preservation both of men and animals was effected by the instrumentality of a large ship built for that special purpose, if all the while no such circumstance had ever occurred. Upon the supposition before us, it is abundantly manifest, that traditions of the deluge must have exhibited a totally dif ferent aspect from what they do at present. In some chance country, we might possibly have heard of an individual who escaped in a ship: but the generally prevailing account would certainly have been, that men and animals took refuge on the tops of the mountains, which remained dry while the plains were inundated. 2. Let us next suppose, that, although the deluge was strictly universal, yet the mode in which individual men and animals escaped was not in a ship specially built for the purpose by reason of a Divine revelation, but in a ship which (like many other ships) had been accidentally built in the ordinary course of war or traffic. Now what will be the result of this supposition? It will, 1 apprehend, be the following. "If one family thus escaped, there is no assignable reason why many other families might not equally have escaped. Hence, under such circumstances, though tradition would have made a ship the medium of preservation, it would have told the thousand escapes in a thousand dif ferent manners. But this is not the fact. In every quarter of the globe, the matter is related with surprizing uniformity. We are invariably told, not that many families, but that a single family alone, escaped; that this family consisted of eight persons; that the head of it was the father of three sons; and that from these three sons descended all the nations of the present world. It is true indeed, that, with a not unnatural vanity, every people has delighted to claim the father of the preserv-> ed family as their own peculiar countryman, and to place the appulse of the ship upon some lofty mountain in their own peculiar territory: but still, in the fact that only a single family was saved, all nations agree; and the palpable circumstance, that the East was the cradle of mankind and the centre whence every postdiluvian emigration took place, clearly demonstrates that the ship can only have come to land in the continent of Asia. I may add, that the supposition before us does not at all account for a matter which involves no slight degree of difficulty. "The progenitors of the present existing birds and beasts must have been preserved from the general deluge, as well as the ancestors of the present existing race of mankind. Now the testimony of history and the researches of geology agree in declaring, that the deluge was not more a great than a sudden revolution. If then man received no warning from Heaven of its approach, and if he merely fled to such ships as had previously and accidentally been constructed; how happened it, that the various genera of birds and beasts and reptiles, which are now in actual existence, were preserved no less than man? Is it likely, that there would be a curious research after land-animals and a painful endeavour to take alive the several tribes of birds which wing their airy way through the midst of heaven, while the waters were rapidly rising and threatening immediate destruction? Or, if any such extraordinary efforts should have been made, is it possible that they could have been crowned with success? Nay, even granting the rise of the waters to have been gradual, even granting it to have afforded sufficient time to catch every variety of animals; would man, if left to himself, have been anxious to preserve noxious creatures? Would he have painfully saved the lion, the tiger, the bear, the serpent? Would he have been careful to preserve those many smaller animals; which, though not formidable to him as combatants, are troublesome or destructive to his property, and which therefore he now incessantly labours to exterminate? The present supposition is clearly quite insufficient to account for the fact of the existence of ani mals as they now exist, notwithstanding the certain occurrence of the deluge at a comparatively recent period. Their progenitors could not have been collected together in order to embarkation, without a previous knowledge of the approaching flood on the part of their collector. But this previous knowledge he could not have had, save by a Divine communication. Therefore a Divine communication must have taken place: otherwise, the progeni tors of our present birds and beasts and reptiles could not have been preserved." pp. 69-74. In the fourth section, Mr. Faber considers" the difficulties attendant on infidelity, in regard to actually accomplished prophecy," and selects, as greatly to his purpose, the prediction of Moses concerning the future condition of the Jews. The exact accomplishment of this prophecy he points out in no less than nine striking particulars, and contends, that, since its accordance with fact cannot be disputed by our adversaries, it proves the Divine inspiration of Moses, and consequently the Divine origin of the Bible. He obviates the only two objections to which he conceives his argument liable, by shewing that the fulfilment of the prediction can be ac counted for, neither on the supposition of mere political sagacity on the part of the Jewish Lawgiver, nor on that of a lucky accident, similar to a supposed prediction of the discovery of the American continent which occurs in the Medea of Seneca, and which was ranked by Collins above the clearest prophecies of the Old Testament. Mr. Faber shews the nullity of the passage considered as a prophecy; and "such being the plain state of the case," he observes, "the naked question to be considered and answered is this; whether, under the circumstances which have been set forth, the man who admits, or the man who denies, the Divine inspi ration of the prophecy of Moses, evinces the more blind and determined credulity." The fifth section is on" the dif ficulties attendant on infidelity, in regard to the facts, circumstances, and character of the Christian dispensation." In noticing the impossibility of accounting for the rise of Christianity, on the supposition of imposture, Mr. Faber quotes the however, was not his own, but was curious hypothesis of Volney; which borrowed from M. Barigni, another French infidel. It is really a most singular specimen of "ludicrous credulity," if such credulity can ever be called ludicrous. "Mr. Volney gravely assures us, on the word of a philosopher emancipated from all vulgar prejudices in favour of historical testimony, that the Divine Personage, whom Christians, during the space of well nigh eighteen centuries, have ignorantly revered as their crucified Redeemer, is neither more nor less than the sun in the firmament; that the virgin Mary is one of the zodiacal signs, the constellation Virgo to wit; and that Christ's. crucifixion by Pontius Pilate and his resurrection from the dead on the third day are nothing more than the sun's declension to the winter solstice and his subsequent return to the summer solstice, through the, vivifying season of spring,” p. 115. What mathematical axiom, 'we would ask, can be considered secure from controversy, if an author, professing to write seriously, be at liberty to assume any wild unsupported conjecture, that may suit his purpose, in the face of historical testimony, the most ancient, and unexceptionable? Or, should such licence be admitted, what is to hinder the next generation from disputing the existence of Volney himself, or contending, perhaps, that he was no human being, but an inhabitant of the moon, who came to us for the purpose of restoring some long lost trumpery" which he found in the paradise of fools?-We only mean by this, to expose the absurdity of such writers. Their impiety is a circumstance far too awful to provoke a smile. The greater part of this section, proving the gutter improbability of either imposture or enthusiasmoin the founders of Christianity, is only a spirited recital of arguments which have grown old by use, yet without becoming threadbare, or losing any of their original weight and substance. We however present our readers with Mr. Faber's remarks on the case of the traitor Judas, the argument resulting from whose conduct we never saw placed in a stronger or more striking light. With respect to Judas, he is mentioned at an early period of the history, as being one of those twelve select disciples, to whom Christ added as associates seventy other persons of an inferior rank and authority, and whom he sent out for the purpose of announcing to the house of Israel the near approach of his kingdom. These, having travelled from city to city, and having met with great success in the discharge of their commission, returned to him, we are told, with joy, on account of the prosperous issue of their undertaking. Among them, of course, was and the whole of his conduct deems to have e given general satisfaction; for we find him afterwards acting the part of treasurer to the infant community; a circumstance, which implies that he was reckoned a man worthy of entire confidence. Such being the case, we cannot reasonably doubt, that, whatever might be the true nature and object of the scheme contrived and carrying on by Christ and his twelve principal followers, Judas must have been thoroughly acquainted with it: that is to say, if the whole party were on good grounds fully persuaded that Christ was indeed a prophet sent from God, Judas must have known the universal belief and opinion; and, on the other hand, if they were conscious joint accomplices in the propagation of what was hoped might prove a lucrative imposture, Judas could not but have been in the secret. <-170 "This man, instigated partly by the love of money, partly by disappointed ambition, and partly (it should seem) by anger on account of his having been openly denounced as a traitor in the presence of his fellows, agreed with the chief priests, for the sum of thirty pieces of silver, to betray his his Master into their hands. The money y was paid and Judas duly executed his detestable. jected to the forms of a mock trial, was ignominiously put to death. "Under such circumstances, if Chrishave been the obvious and natural protianity had been an imposture, what would ecedure of Judas? As one of the accomplices, he must have known that it was an imposture. Hence, as a deserter from the scheme, at the same time that he betrayed its Author, or at all events after the death of its Author, he would have unfolded the entire project to his employers. His evidence would have been of the very last importance: for how could an imposture be more completely detected and exposed, than by the voluntary confession of an accomplice? To the high priests, therefore, such an instrument would plainly have been of incalculable value: for his evidence would at once have laid open all the hidden wheels of a hated fraud, and would have fully justified the proceedings of the Jewish rulers both to the people at large and to their own consciences in particular, Nor would his confession have been more desirable to the priests, than beneficial to himself. The character of an informer and a betrayer is always odious. Yet, if Judas had appeared as the repentant and conscientious revealer of a nefarious fraud, through which an impostor was to be impiously palmed upon the na tion as their promised Messiah his honest treachery might not only have been pardoned, but would even have assumed the venerable aspect of zealous sanctity every account, in so we may be morally sure, that, if any had been carrying on, Judas must have known, and would have openly revealed it. bas On His evidence, however, was no time brought forward by the Jewish rulers. He appeared not on the trial of Christ, when his confession would have been so naturally and fitly produced in full court. He is mentioned, not subsequent to the trial, as having left such a confession on record. False witnesses were sought after, in order that there might be decent plea for the condemnation of the alleged impostor; and two at length were found, who testified to his having said, I am able to destroy the temples of God, and to build it in three days; but, respecting the all infportant and décisive evidence of the penitent accomplice Judas, we hear not a syllable For some reason or another, the man, who most especially could have thrown a full and distinct light upon the dark fraud in which he himself prehended: add to Christ was ap had been actively engaged, is never once having beeng A 2 1 "I wish not to be captious; but of this conclusion I can no more see the validity, than I could discern the cogency of his first reason. That man should readily embrace an advantageous offer, when satisfied that the propounders of it could make it good, I can easily conceive and understand: but, why great numbers of every religion, of every rank, and of every province in the Roman empire, should be eager to embrace such an offer, unless they had some reasonable grounds for believing the certainty of its completion, I must own myself quite unable to comprehend. Now, on Mr. Gibbon's principles, what were these grounds of assured belief? By dint of sheer obstinacy and intolerant zeal, it seems the primitive Christians teized the reluctant pagans into a full admission of their religious opinions; and, when once this matter was effected (which the histo rian thinks so easy, that he fearlessly lays it down as his first reason of the success of Christianity), the world was prepared, without any further evidence, to believe every syllable which their pertinacious instructors might please to teach them respecting a future state, proper witnesses, the high priests, it ap-ed by great numbers of every religion, of pears, most unaccountably never once every rank, and of every province in the thought of summoning their useful instru- Roman Empire,' wfang X ment Judas. This wretched tool, stung by remorse, afterwards hanged himself: but the suicide had not been committed, when Christ was brought before the council; he did the deed, only when he saw that his Master was condemned. Hence his inopportune death cannot be alleged as the reason of his non-appearance upon the trial. Why then was he not brought forward as an evidence, that Christ was an impostor, and that his new religion was a cheat? Clearly because he had no such testimony to give; which yet he must have had, if the Gospel had been a well-known fraud. Instead of adventuring any impeachment of his Master's character, when he restored to his employers the wages of iniquity, he openly confessed his own guilt and his Lord's integrity: I have sinned in that I have be trayed the innocent blood. Here we have the solution of the otherwise mexplicable circumstance, that the evidence of Judas, as to Christ being an impostor and Chris tianity a cheat, has at no time been produced neither on the trial, which would doubtless have been the most appropriate season; nor after the trial, which might happily have supplied the defect occasioned by an unfortunate inadvertence on the part of the managers." pp. 178-182. P We pass on to the sixth section. Here our author exposes with much ability the difficulties that encumber infidelity, in accounting for the rapid and extensive propagation of the Gospel during the first ages, and carefully criticizes the five reasons which Gibbon has assigned, and which he deemed sufficient to account for all that was extraordinary, without resorting to the belief of supernatural agency. The following is a specimen of Mr. Faber's mode of disarming his antagonist. The ironical manner, if not supported by weight of argument, often degene rates into mere flippancy; but here, in Mr. Faber's hands, it serves to sharpen the edge of a powerful weapon. 3. "When the promise of eternal hap"piness," says Mr. Gibbon, was proposed to mankind, on condition of adopting the faith and observing the precepts of the Gospel, it is no wonder, that so advantageous an of should have been accept CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 275. P "Under eircumstances so replete with conviction, it is no wonder, thinks Mr. Gibbon, that thousands upon thousands of every rank, age, temper, religion, and province, should become eager and satisfied proselytes: it is no wonder, that, after ing harassed by importunity into a having first undergone the process of beplete acquiescence in the opinions of their new teachers, they should next be fully prepared to believe every thing respecting the invisible world which their obstinate preceptors might choose to tell them. com In truth, it is no wonder, 'that those, who could be induced through the operation of mere importunity to embrace a religion which forthwith exposed them to obloquy and persecution, should, without any further hesitation, though without a shadow of evidence, assent to the naked dogmata of their masters in regard to á future state. The first step in the journey is every thing. Let that only be taken, and the remainder of their mental progress is perfectly easy." pp. 198-200. The latter part of this section, will afford relief to the pious reader, by bringing him in contact with sentiments far more familiar and congenial to his thoughts than are 5 A |